The federal government has decided to intervene in a whistleblower case against St. Jude Medical Inc. The case is being brought by a former employee who alleges the company paid illegal kickbacks to doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers to persuade them to use their heart device products. These healthcare providers then submitted claims to Medicare and other federal programs to receive reimbursement for these devices.
The whistleblower, Charles Donigian, also claims St. Jude repeatedly violated anti-kickback laws by paying medical professionals “sham fees” for false clinical research studies and by providing healthcare providers and their families with “entertainment gifts, travel, vacations, temporary staff, tickets to sporting events, and ‘educational’ events at luxury resorts.”
Federal investigators began looking into these allegations about five years ago. In December 2009, the government declined to intervene in the case. However, in the past seven months, investigators have interviewed additional witnesses and reviewed more documents. With this additional evidence, the government now believes it has a strong case, which has prompted them to intervene. The case will be filed with a federal court in Boston.
St. Jude Medical Inc. denies the allegations and plans to fight the charges in court. In June, St. Jude settled a separate whistleblower action for $3.7 million. That case claimed the manufacturer paid illegal kickbacks to hospitals in Kentucky and Ohio to improve sales of their heart devices.
Whistleblower claims, also called qui tam cases, provide individuals with knowledge of fraud committed against the government to file suit on behalf of the government to recover the defrauded funds. If the lawsuit is successful, the whistleblower can receive a percentage of the recovered funds as a whistleblower reward.
If you have knowledge of fraud committed against the government, please contact the Washington, D.C. qui tam lawyers at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. today to schedule your free initial consultation.
